FLOOD00938

• County: Statewide
• Title: Guide to Flood Insurance Rate Maps
• Date: 5/1/1988
• Prepared By: FEMA
• Floodplain - Doc Type: Historic FEMA Regulatory Floodplain Information

FLOOD INSURANCE
RATE MAP FORMATS

To help the map user locate a specific
property or site and determine the
flooding information that applies to the
site, the FIRM depicts common physical
features that exist within the community.
These features include major highways,
secondary roads, lakes, railroads, and
streams and other waterways, The FIRM
may consist of one or more individual
panels; however, panels are printed only
for those areas of the community that
are subject to flooding.

The FIRM for your community will be
either a Flat FIRM or a Hold FIRM:

Flat F1RM-A Flat FIRM consists of a
cover sheet, on which a map index and
map legend appear, and one or more
ll"xl7" map panels that cover the
flooded areas of the community.

Originally, all FIRMs were published in
this format. In the mid,1970's, FEMA
began publishing FIRMs in the Hold
format.

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Hold FIRM-A Hold FIRM consists of
one or more map panels, each of which
contains a map legend. Depending on
the size and shape of the community and
the areas to be covered, the FIRM may
consist of panels of up to five standard
sizes.

When a FIRM consists of more than one
panel, it will also include a separate
Index, Eventually, all FIRMs will be
published in this format.

A separate map, the Flood Boundary and
Floodway Map (FBFM), that depicts
regulatory floodways and other floodplain
management information may be
prepared in conjunction with the FIRM
but is distributed separately, with the FIS
report.

In general appearance, all Hold FIRMs
are alike. However, as a result of design
changes that affect the type and amount
of information shown on these maps,
several variations now exist.

. Map Initiatives Project (MIP)-As a
result of a project conducted to identify
the needs of FIRM users, FEMA changed